Great Expectations

Happy Holidays! This is definitely a great time of year for us and we hope that you are having a blessed time as well.  We are excited as we leave for Kenya in just a few weeks!
We are finishing up our trip details in the country, but have most of it planned out.  One thing we do know from past experience, is that in Africa everything will not go exactly according to plan.  We are relying on the Lord and trust that this trip will work out for His glory.
As the trip quickly approaches we have been taking time to thank the Lord for bringing us to this point, our vision trip.  As most of you know, we both have been waiting what seems like a lifetime to take this trip.  I (Kenzi) am  not a very patient person so when the Lord tells me to stop, wait, and take a detour, I tend to throw a fit like a toddler.  Looking back, I now understand.  We needed an education in order to do what He had planned.  We needed some time after getting married to grow closer in Him and learn how to work as a married couple.
We needed to trust Him.
Something that sounds so easy is often times the hardest thing to do.
Trust.
I have greatly been relying on the Lord that after this trip we will know where it is He is calling us to work.  To be honest, I do not want to come home and be back at square one.  This trip is a big step in faith for us in that we hope God will give us some clarity on where it is we will be working.  Needless to say, we have great expectations for this trip.

"Trust in the Lord with all your heart

and lean not on your own understanding;

in all your ways submit to Him,

and He will make you paths straight."

-Proverbs 3: 5-6

On another note, we have something else we are expecting....A BABY!! Yes that is correct.  We are expecting our first child in June of 2014.  We were planning on having a baby before the big move across the pond but did not expect the little blessing so soon.  As it turns out, God had it all planned out.  The pregnancy is a perfect time with our upcoming trip and plans for next year.  This means by the time we do move, we will have had a year of experience as parents.  This holiday season we are counting our blessings!

With all of this being said we do have some prayer requests:

-Safety on our trip

-Health for the baby and Kenzi

-Transportation while in Kenya

-That we will come back with a clearer understanding of where we will be serving. 

We pray you all have a blessed holiday season! Thank you for your continued prayer and support. We will post again after the trip.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

The Foglemans

VISION TRIP

Hey, hope you are doing well.  Just wanted to bring you up to date on all that we are doing and working on. Since our last post, details of our vision trip are starting to come together.  We are excited about going to Kenya to visit and see God at work, picture our lives there, learn more about the location to share it with others, and help us better prepare for the future.  As of now, we are thinking about going at the end of December and into the first couple weeks of January and can't wait!

We are eager to step into each community and see how the Lord has been working and how we can join Him.  The four different communities that we are going to visit are all over the country and have some really cool things going on.  The first community that we contacted from the beginning is helping to provide care for orphans, street children, women empowerment, and even some water projects for surrounding areas.  It is an area of the country that we have traveled to before and know that we would love serving there.  The second community is a bit farther north in the drier and hotter remote lands of the Samburu tribe.  We have been learning about current work there regarding clean water, medical attention, and local orphan care.  Life in this area might not be easy, but know that God is proving care, love, and hope to so many there.  The third community and organization actually contacted us and is possibly looking for staff to join in their work for providing care for the local children and raise them in a Gospel centered environment.  We have never been to this area of  Kenya and haven't even met the staff in person, but would love to work alongside such brothers and sisters eager to serve the Lord.  The fourth community that we just started learning about is focused on providing a supportive and great education for the school children of a small village.  This community is closest to Nairobi, the largest city in Kenya.  We met some of the founders that live here in Lexington and after learning from them, we would love to get to know everyone there better.  We pray that God will work on our hearts as he continues to show us His vision for us.

As we have never been to most of these communities, putting faces to names and getting a feel for the people there will be a fun adventure.  Going there with the thought process of living there full time and raising a family there will definitely provide a deeper perspective than we have had before.  We find ourselves talking about such things as closeness to hospitals and schools as envisioning our lives there becomes more of a reality.  The people of Kenya are so hospitable and caring that we know we are going to love living life with any community that fits.

After this vision trip, we hope to be able to share this ministry better with friends, family, and supporters back here in the U.S.  Our first get-together and training with the sending agency won't be too long after this trip and we will hopefully be able to share a specific calling that we feel for a community so they can help prepare us in a deeper way.  Being able to share the specific ministry and work that we will be a part of in Kenya will help us raise support and connect the Family of God across the world.

Spending a few weeks in Kenya with full-time staff should hopefully help us better prepare mentally for what is to come.  As described above, the four different communities that we are going to visit are quite different in location, weather and terrain, and ministry.  The array of cool and tropical to hot and dry or mix of religious beliefs are expected to be challenging, but with the help of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ we will love and serve through all conditions.

Needless to say, we are excited about this upcoming adventure in less than 3 months.  We are currently working out details of transportation in the country and finding flights even with a possible long layover in an awesome European city (bucket list for both of us).

To add in a little financial note, we wanted to share some major steps we have taken this last year.  The Lord has laid on our hearts to be totally debt free before we start fund raising next year.  In doing this, we have down-sized to a smaller apartment, sold one of our cars, and rearranged our budget.  This has allowed us to pay off Kenzi's student loan, her car, and other outstanding bills.  We currently just have to pay Mark's student loan and have a goal of paying that one off by next spring.  God has definitely blessed us and we pray that we can steward it all to bless others.

Thanks for taking the time to follow up on what we are doing.  We greatly appreciate your time and ask for continued prayer as we want to see and hear God in each community, discernment of how to go about this all, communication with our in-country contacts, finances for getting there and paying our last loans this year, and safety even before we go.  We plan on writing at least right before we leave and will let you know all the final details.

Have a blessed day and continue to seek the Lord with all your heart, soul, strength, and mind.  He will use you for some pretty amazing things :)

In Christ,
Mark and Kenzi Fogleman

Moving Forward

After two months, Mark and I finally submitted our applications to the sending agency!  It was a very intense process and taught us a lot about ourselves and each other. The questions covered pretty much every topic and then some.  At times we would spend thirty minutes on just one question and other times it was a simple answer.  One thing is for sure and that is most of the questions helped to confirm in our hearts that we were in the right place doing what Christ had planned for us to do. While I still feel we are at the beginning stages of this journey, every step closer gets more and more exciting.

We are currently in communication with three different communities throughout Kenya.  Each one of these communities has a piece of the vision God has placed on our hearts.  As of right now we are planning a vision trip for early next year where we plan to visit each location to learn more about their ministry, location and to see how God speaks to our hearts. We kindly ask that you join us in prayer as we prepare for this trip.  We are asking that God prepares our heart for the location where He plans to use us, that God would give a peace to the individuals that we will be meeting and for clarity on both parties, that our employers will find favor on us as we are seeking to take a few weeks off of work, and that financially we will be stable enough as we are seeking to support ourselves for this trip.  We know that there are still a few months before go, but we want to make sure it is led by God and His guidance is upon it.  

The sending agency is currently going through our applications and learning from our references.  We are spending more time learning about cross-cultural ministry and all that it may entail.  To make life easier when we arrive, we are trying to learn more Swahili. By the way, if you know of a program or class to aid in this we would greatly appreciate it! These different aspects of preparation keep us excited for what is to come.

I know this post is a little shorter than usual, but currently we are in a time of prayer and preparation.  We thank you all again for joining us on this journey as things are starting to move forward!

Blessings,

Kenzi

Discernment

The past few weeks have really been a time of growth as Kenzi and I continue on in this journey.  Since the past post, we had a few interviews with some amazing staff of the sending agency.  It is a step in the process that we eagerly waited for and we feel that they both went well.

Our time speaking with the staff was full of encouragement, insight, and guidance.  They not only want to know if we are a good fit for them and their work, but also if they align with the vision that God has placed on our hearts.  One of the questions that sticks out to me from the interview has to do with where we want to work.  As Kenzi and I expressed our passion for the people of Kenya and how we are feel called to that country, I heard a question I have never been asked before.  I was asked if my desire to go to Kenya (where I grew up as a young child), was truly a felt calling from the Lord or nostalgic in my memories of a home there.  I know there were no intentions of questioning our calling, but simply making sure that I was seeking God in all our decisions.  

Also, as Kenzi and I are initially focusing on Kenya as our first point of contact with finding a need, we have been open to finding a community fitting our vision in other parts of Africa.  We expressed our openness to where the Lord may be leading us and they questioned why we might be needed there.  After our interview, we at first found ourselves feeling the need to prove that the location we felt a passion for was of a greatest need for us.  I kept trying to find a community perfectly fitting our desire to work with clean water and orphan care.  We know they did not mean for us to feel this way, but this did lead to some deeper and great discussion on our part. After long walks and prayer, we feel that we don't need to prove anything and that it is perfectly fine to follow our passions from the Lord, as He can use us for His glory everywhere.  We know there is great need in places all over the planet, some more than others, and all I can say is that we want to be His hands and feet today and forever.  We plainly seek to go out with a servants heart in His name and are willing to follow the Holy Spirit as doors open and close at any time in the future.  

All that being said, this past month has been a time of discernment and growth in coming before the Lord as we want to follow Him.  The agency sent us the online applications that we each need to submit and we have begun that process.  The applications are pretty detailed and cover topics such as our marriage, financial situation, talents and abilities, and most important of all, our faith.  We are aiming to finish and submit them this week.  

We have also been talking with some different cross-cultural witnesses that are overseas and have some more conversations set up for this and next week.  They do a variety of work such as water treatment, discipleship, education, orphan care, etc.  We are learning about their discernment process, current work, and seeking any advice they may provide.  It's always really inspiring and cool to go talk with such people and learn about how God is working through them.   It fuels our desire to get to work as soon as we can.

Thank you so much for your prayers as we went through the interviews, we greatly appreciate it. We ask that you continue to pray over us and all the decisions that we are making.  As we have conversations with more people this week and as we finish up our applications, please pray that it will all be Christ centered and for Him.  We are already learning so much about how God wants to use us and look forward to each and every day with Him leading our way.

In Christ,

Mark 

Baby Steps

Throughout my life I (Kenzi)  have learned one important thing....God likes to take HIS time. Ninth grade is when this journey of possibly moving over seas began for me.  My parents like to say it started when I was three and was determined to get a cute, little black baby doll for my birthday.  I, obviously, do not remember my third birthday, but I do remember being in ninth grade and thinking "I want to impact peoples lives" and "I want kids to know the God who created them."  I was never interested in the other activities that most high school kids wanted to experience.  I wanted to learn how to serve.  I loved mission trips and micro-missions trips.  I loved learning about new cultures and experiencing them first hand.  I knew God was orchestrating something-I just wasn't 100% sure what it was.

College is where God completely rocked my life. Right before I started college my parents moved to Mexico to work with Back2Back Ministries, an incredible organization that is working to end the cycle of poverty through orphan care and community outreach.  I begged them to let me move with them and was not happy when they told me had to get some school under my belt before I could move down there. Little did I know, my relationship with the Lord would grow so much deeper during my first couple of years in college.  I had to lean on Him for much more than I did when my parents were close.  My freshman year I began to discern that God was going to use me in Africa.  I had no idea how, where, or why He had chosen me.  I was just excited! As the years went on it became more clear that I really wanted to work with kids who had been affect by AIDS in some way.  I began to research different countries in Africa where AIDS had effected many children.  Through research, I found that South Africa actually had the most kids orphaned due to AIDS related events.  At that moment, I thought I had it all figured out.  I would have talks with friends at night about how I just wanted to quit school and move to South Africa.  I had convinced myself that these kids needed me and no one else was going to help them.  Of course, God had other plans.  As many times as I had complained to my friends and family about being in school and wanting to go overseas - God knew when the time was going to come.  I would have left school in a heartbeat if He had just said GO. But the brakes were put on my plan.  Instead, He decided to take me down south to work with my parents for a year.  I was excited to go down and learn how a ministry works and how I could help the children in Mexico. God had placed me in a time of training.  A time for me to learn how He helps the poor and broken-hearted.  I learned to see people through His eyes.  It was life changing. God 1 - Kenzi 0.  When the time came for me to move back to Oklahoma and finished school I bawled, like a little baby who just had their favorite toy taken away.  It was awful.  To be honest, I was mad at God.  (Yes I know not the best things to do...).  I wanted to stay and serve.  I felt like I was doing what God had planned out for me.  Again, my plan failed.  I went back to Oklahoma and finished school graduating college with a Bachelor of Arts in Sociology Human Service. I'm sure all the parents out there are thinking 'yay you graduated college! Now you can be successful and get a job and make money!' Yea that was not my plan.  I would be happy not having the largest house, or the nicest car to show how successful I could be.  Its not about me, I wanted to reach out to the kids who had no one to care for them.  That was my focus.  However, God knew what He was doing.  God 2 -Kenzi 0. 

SIDE NOTE: During college I also would pray that God would bring along a man who loved the Lord, loved me, loved his family, had blue eyes and dark hair, and loved Africa. I decided if this man did not come along, I was going to move there by myself.  Again, I was focused.  But, God did bring him along (after many years of praying).  I met a man by the name of Mark Fogleman while I was serving alongside my parents in Mexico.  While I was wishing I could be serving in Africa- God brings the most incredible man into my life.  The man I have come to believe that I prayed into existence. God is simply AMAZING! 

God 3 -Kenzi 0

All of this brings me to where I am today.  Without these spiritual baby steps of research, discovery, discernment, trust, frustration, questions, and prayer I could be on a whole other road that was not what God had planned.  I have learned that trusting Him and believing in His timing is far more important than me being selfish and wanting what I want when I want it.  As Mark and I continue to move forward in the call God has placed on our hearts, we are learning to go to God first, and place our concerns and questions in front of Him daily.  It has been amazing to see how God has shown up and shown off! 

This past week we had our first phone interview with the sending agency.  It was so exciting and scary at the same time.  'Are they gonna like us?'  'Will we be a good fit for their ministry?' All these questions came flooding to our minds.  Thankfully, God confirmed to us that it doesn't matter.  If it is His will we will partner with them in ministry.  The thing that matters is that what we do brings glory to God. 

And I am very thankful for that.

We would like to ask that as we are going through this process that y'all will partner with us in praying for these next couple weeks as we have a couple more interviews.  Please pray that whatever happens is Gods plan and that if it is His will.  We are trusting God in the process and cannot wait to see what He has planned!

Blessings,

Kenzi

Family of God

First and foremost, THANK YOU for taking the time to read our blog and to join us in this adventure.  Some of you know this journey started MANY years ago.  However, for the sake of time, and short attention spans, I wont go into the whole story....well...maybe one day I'll explain it.

I am not sure how much you know about us as a couple, but even before we met each other, we had a dream of working for God in Africa.  Mark has always had the dream of working in a ministry and doing community work with clean water and I (Kenzi) have had a heart to love and serve the orphaned in the name of Christ.

At the moment, we are both feeling called to East Africa and are coming to a point in our life that we believe the transition of moving there will be in the next couple years.  We have a vision and dream of starting a ministry in rural Africa that is a community living with and for Christ in which disciples grow into mature followers of Jesus, orphans experience love and life in Him, and all work together to live healthy strengthened lives.  We are feeling led to having a mission to share the Good News of Jesus Christ through word and deed, the life of Christ through sustainable community empowering development projects, and Christ’s love with orphans, widows, and the impoverished.  

We have currently been getting in contact with individuals in Kenya about what the greatest need is and where.  Last weekend we were able to talk with two sweet ladies who are currently working at a medical clinic in Kenya and one couple who served in Paraguay for ten years.  Both of these conversations blessed us tremendously in discerning where God might take us as well as providing great information for different training we will need prior to moving.   

Tonight we submitted a form to a sending agency.  We have heard great things about this organization and look forward to talking with them soon. 

Side note: we just submitted the form and I am so excited I can hardly stand it!

Jamaa Ya Mungu means Family of God.  That is who WE are, we are all apart of HIS plan, and this is why the blog was started.  We want all of you to join us on this journey, go through the ups and downs, and watch how God is going to show up and show off.  Yes we might be the ones preparing to head out to the field, but you are our support. You all have impacted our lives in many different ways and would not be starting this journey if it wasn't for your support throughout so many years.  You are apart of our eternal family and we are beyond grateful for each of you! 

Blessings,
The Foglemans